Beedie School of Business News

Contact:
Shawn Smith, Beedie School, 778.782.9262, ssmithe@sfu.ca
Derek Moscato, Beedie School, 778.782.5038, derek_moscato@sfu.ca
Chantelle Buffie, 604.763.7211, clb14@sfu.ca
Sonam Swarup, 604.809.5477, slswarup@sfu.ca
Lorraine Wilson, 778.837.0394, mediarelations@vancity.com

Students at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University can further their social venture ideas with the launch of the new Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator (SEA) program, starting this semester at the SFU Surrey campus.

The program provides students with the resources to generate feasible business models, meet with clients to discuss project details, and gain an understanding of social impact. Students enter as individuals or teams, or join a team in the class.

With $10,000 in support from Vancity, the initiative will help entrepreneurially-minded students move their concepts towards reality and develop projects that will help address tomorrow’s social, environmental, and economic challenges. Keep reading…

Tags: Adam Wizinsky, Alee Furman, Alexis Dalzell, Chantelle Buffie, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, Fusion Kitchen, Green Dirt, Shawn Smith, social entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator, social venture, Social Venture Accelerator, Sonam Swarup, Vancity

Rick Iverson, a Professor of Human Resource Management at SFU’s Beedie School of Business, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly last Thursday .

Born Roderick Dale Iverson on September 3, 1959, Rick received his PhD in Industrial Sociology from the University of Iowa in 1992, and eventually joined SFU’s Faculty of Business Administration in 2001 from the University of Melbourne. Rick would go on to become an admired and highly-respected scholar, teacher and colleague within the business faculty and across Simon Fraser University, where he leaves an extraordinary academic legacy. He will also be remembered by colleagues for his sensible advice and counsel, brilliant Australian sense of humour and an unmatched enthusiasm for his work.

Rick was an exemplary scholar in every respect. He was a repeat recipient of the Faculty of Business Administration’s TD Canada Trust Distinguished Teaching Award (2011 and 2004) and the Annual Excellence in Research Award for 2005. He was also awarded the 2008 SFU Award for Excellence in Teaching — an award that can only be received once in a faculty member’s academic career at SFU.

In a prolific scholarly career, Rick published over 50 refereed research articles and book chapters. His human resources research was awarded the prestigious Best Convention Paper at the National Academy of Management meetings on three different occasions.

His research interests in HR management, organizations, and workplace issues such as occupational injury, absenteeism, turnover, and change management led him to consult extensively with organizations in Australia, Canada, and the US.

In addition to teaching and research, he was the Director for the SFU Centre for Workplace Health and Safety; and served as Chair of the Appointments Committee to recruit new faculty members to the Beedie School.

Rick is survived by his daughter Amy as well as his partner Shelly, his sister Leeann, his father Arthur and his ex-wife Dianne.

A memorial service for Rick will be held this Saturday, May 12th at 10:30 am at SFU’s West Mall Complex 3rd floor Atrium. Everyone is invited to celebrate Rick’s life with his family and his extended SFU family and friends.

Students from Simon Fraser University showed Canada what they “dared to do” when they finished among the top ten teams at the SIFE National Championship.

The competition, part of the 2012 ACE National Exposition held from May 7 to 9 at the Telus Convention Centre in Calgary, Alberta, featured over 50 schools from across Canada competing for the title of national champions.

After successfully negotiating the opening round, the SFU team advanced to the final ten and a semi final knockout round. Despite a strong presentation which drew standing ovations from several of the judges, the team was eliminated by eventual champions Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Sam Thiara, Associate Director, Undergraduate Alumni Engagement, was left with no doubt that the students can take great pride in their performance. “One judge told the team that in three years of judging, he had never seen a presentation as solid as (SFU’s) and to keep up the amazing work,” says Thiara. “There were tears from our team because they felt that they gave the performance of a lifetime and they had recognition that they did an exceptional job.”

Having attended the event for the past seven years in support of the SIFE Simon Fraser team, Thiara is well placed to comment on their current and future prospects. “The students earned respect and credibility. The hard work by all showed and they were true champions.”

Tags: ACE, ACE National Exposition, Sam Thiara, SIFE, SIFE National Championship

Project Positive Charge's Recycling Robots

Hands-on experience in project management is now delivered with community impact through social engagement and sustainability at SFU’s Beedie School of Business. And in one case it has meant the advent of recycling robots.

In Beedie Professor Blaize Reich’s project management class, undergraduate students were asked to take on a project of any shape or size to develop the project management skills taught in the class. After being split into groups, the students were given free reign to choose the focus of their project.

One of the groups, Project Positive Charge, opted to use their project to address sustainability issues on campus. Students Alex Tsao, Frank Lo, Henry Lam, Robin Orford and Rebecca Wang set up ten robot-themed recycling boxes around Burnaby campus for old batteries and cell phones and have since seen their project recognised in several competitions.

“We were looking for a way to encourage recycling among students on campus and came up with the idea of a robot theme for the boxes to grab people’s attention,” explains Tsao. “Although SFU had a long-established paper and plastic recycling program, we were conscious that no electronic waste recycling program existed on campus. We set a target of 220lbs of batteries originally, but ultimately surpassed that,  collecting over 250lbs of batteries and 61 cell phones.” Keep reading…

Tags: BBA, Humanitarian Services for Children of Vietnam, project management, SustainableSFU

A Beedie School of Business undergraduate student has placed in the top three in the recent Focus 2040 case competition by predicting what the business world will look like in the year 2040.

Focus 2040 is open to undergraduate and graduate business students and is the first competition of its kind in the HRM and organizational strategy sector. Entrants have one task: to predict the world of work in the year 2040.

Beedie undergrad student Tiffanie Lai teamed up with UBC student Amanda Feng to enter the competition, hosted by McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business. Their presentation earned them the third-place prize, which included $2000 in prize money. It was one of four SFU entrants to reach the final 25 in the competition.

Their vision was based on the future of the business world being very much an internationalized one. “Our final presentation focused on an immense shift in global economic power,” explains Lai. “We predict that current emerging economies will overtake the established economic powers, giving rise to an entirely new generation of employees. It will be essential for candidates to be multilingual, cultured and equipped with a roster of international experiences.”

The pair researched current business trends and surveys in order to develop their vision. The judges were impressed by their ideas, which included an international nexus pass allowing people in business to cross borders quickly and easily to facilitate the internationalization of business. Keep reading…

Tags: case competitions, CMA, Focus 2040, HRM, JDC West, Tiffanie Lai

One of the ideas suggested by the groups involved a campus take on the infamous Canucks fans known as the Green Men

A group of Beedie School of Business undergraduate students have been using SustainableSFU as a model to develop their business plan writing skills – and planning a more sustainable campus in the process.

In his class focused on ethics in marketing, Beedie School of Business PhD student and lecturer Todd Green set for his students the task of drafting marketing plans based on a real-life, non-profit organization that operates on SFU’s Burnaby campus.

After the previous cohort’s experience working with International China Concern, a charity which helps abandoned and disabled children in China, Green decided to shift the focus closer to home. While attending SustainableSFU’s annual Sustainability Festival, Green was inspired by the organization’s goal of working towards a sustainable campus and decided that he would ask his next group of students to develop a working marketing plan for SustainableSFU. Keep reading…

Tags: Green Men, International China Concern, Marketing, sustainability, Sustainability Festival, SustainableSFU, Todd green

On February 6, a wine and cheese gathering was held to get our teachers involved in creating a vision for the Beedie School’s new Teaching and Learning Group. There was a great turnout, with 22 people in attendance. Shauna Jones, Coordinator of the Teaching and Learning Group, gathered input on the following questions:

1. What would you envision for the Beedie School’s Teaching Group for the next three years?
2. What do you want from the teaching group?
3. What initiatives would best support your needs?

From the input gathered at the initial kickoff, a draft of the Teaching Groups Vision and Mission statement was formed:

Vision
The international business education community will recognize the Beedie School of Business Teaching and Learning Group as a leader in engaged and experiential learning.

Mission
We are committed to the collective and individual development of scholarly teaching within the BSB. We engage faculty and students to foster effective outcome-oriented learning environments. We model and share successful scholarly best practices that encourage great students.

For now, these are considered “draft” statements. Try them on and see how they fit. If you have comments or suggestions, please submit them to shaunaj@sfu.ca. Representatives from the Teaching and Learning Group will also be soliciting feedback from students before the statements are finalized.

The input from the kickoff also demonstrated several key themes about what teachers want: opportunities to learn with and from others, opportunities for teaching development, and opportunities to share with others. There were some great ideas about how this might be accomplished. It was decided to start this year with interactive sessions and expand the offerings next year. Mark your calendars for the upcoming sessions in 2012:

Interactive Polling – May 24 from 2:30-4:30pm
Language and Writing – October 2 from 10am-12pm

If you are interested in the full results from the kickoff session, they can be found here.

To ensure our 2013 offerings are pertinent to our teachers, your input is needed. Please take five minutes to complete the following survey. Teaching Survey. Please use your regular SFU login ID and password to access the survey. It will remain open until May 31.

The Teaching and Learning Group is open to all Faculty members, Sessionals and others who are teaching. Your participation is a valuable asset in bringing to life the vision for the Beedie School’s Teaching and Learning Group.

Tags: Teaching, Teaching and Learning Group, Teaching News

by David Rubeli, Educational Consultant

SFU Symposium on Teaching and Learning
Beedie will be well-represented at this year’s Symposium on Teaching and Learning, which takes place at SFU Burnaby on May 16-17. The theme of this year’s conference is Leading Change @ SFU, and sessions will explore ways to improve student learning experiences in courses and programs. Several sessions will cover topics of interest to Beedie faculty members and staff, including addressing student work experience, health promoting classrooms, leadership identity development, and empowering Generation 1.5 and EAL students.

Consider supporting our Beedie colleagues who will be presenting:
• Andrew Gemino will facilitate an interdisciplinary plenary discussion on “Practicing Engagement”.
• Jan Kietzmann, who will participate in a panel discussion about upper-division cohort programs, along with SFU Surrey faculty leaders of the innaugeral Semester in Innovation cohort program.
• Stephanie Bertels and colleagues from Geography and Chemistry, will engage in a dialogue about the idea of engaged scholarship and how they use this pedagogy to achieve education for sustainable development.

In addition, Julia Christensen Hughes, Dean of the College of Management and Economics at the University of Guelph, will deliver the opening keynote address. Dr. Christensen Hughes’s talk will draw on research and insights from higher education reform initiatives in Ontario to discuss external influences and economic pressures facing universities in Canada and systemic barriers to change that SFU and other institutions must confront.

For more information about the Symposium or to register, visit the TLC website. The keynotes addresses and plenary sessions will be recorded and resources will be archived for those unable to attend.

Consultation Services
David Rubeli is the Beedie School of Business Educational Consultant. If you are working on an aspect of your teaching, revising a course or program, or pondering a big question or issue related to business education, David would be pleased to hear from you and happy to consult. You can reach him at 778-782-2278, drubeli@sfu.ca or @drubeli on Twitter.

Tags: SFU Sumposium on Teaching and Learning, Teaching, Teaching News

Jan Kietzmann in the Beedie School of Business, was a co-applicant with Ted Kirkpatrick (Applied Science), John Bowes (FCAT) and Rob Cameron (Applied Science) for one of SFU’s newest teaching grants. They have been awarded the $10,000 large teaching grant, which will be used to support and develop a project titled “Designing SFU Mobile”. SFU Mobile will be a 15-credit, cohort based, multidisciplinary course to be offered at the Surrey campus in Summer 2012. It will be co-taught by Faculty from Business, Computing Science and Interactive Arts and Technology and will draw students from those majors.

The course design draws from the successful model of SFU’s Semester in Dialogue program but adds new elements. Where the Dialogue program emphasizes dialogue as a field of study and practice in its own right (students enrol in DIAL courses), SFU Mobile will emphasize the skills students have learned in their respective disciplines, demanding that they coordinate their talents with other specialists in service of a larger goal, receiving 400-level credit in their own department. SFU Mobile will also emphasize product development, delivering road maps, concept demonstrations, and business plans.

The distinctly different intent of SFU Mobile, its heterogenous participants, its aim of building on and polishing the disparate disciplinary skills of the participating students, will require developing a distinctly different structure and outcomes than have been used for the Semester in Dialogue. The Teaching and Learning Development Grant is crucial for this process. Critical is the hiring of an inquiry team (different from the teaching team) to help facilitate development of the original learning outcomes, and independently evaluate the success of both the course activities and the stated learning outcomes. During the actual course, the inquiry team will maintain some distance from the instructors. This will allow the inquiry team to maintain a disinterested perspective on the decisions of the instructional team. It will also be important in sustaining the students’ confidence that they can express concerns to the inquiry team without any affect on their relationship to the instructional team and their ultimate grades. After the course is concluded, the instructional and inquiry teams will collaborate to evaluate the course.

About Teaching & Learning Grants
These grants were created to recognize teaching development as scholarly activity and to stimulate the development, implementation, and investigation of innovative teaching and learning at SFU. Learn more about these grants and how you can apply at: http://www.sfu.ca/teachlearn/tlgrants.html

Tags: Jan Kietzmann, SFU Mobile, SFU Semester in Dialogue, Teaching, Teaching and Learning Grant, Teaching Development, Teaching News

For many people, the notion of investing in a business involves an eventual return of capital and ultimate profitability. However, financial gain was the last thing on the mind of Beedie School of Business lecturer and PhD student Adam Mills when he made his latest investment in BBA student projects – ultimately leading to funds raised for children with chronic illnesses and disabilities.

In his Business 478 strategy class, Mills tasked his students with starting up their own businesses. He gave five groups of undergraduate students $100 each from his own pocket as start-up capital in exchange for 15 percent of each business, and told the students they could keep any additional profit.

Mills decided early in the process that hands-on experience was a more engaging way for the students to learn about business strategy than the traditional approach of writing a business plan as a capstone project. Keep reading…

Tags: Adam Mills, Business Strategy, entrepreneurship, Fruit Dealers, PhD